The Queensland government is looking to reform a 110 year old rape defence “loophole” that allows an accused rapist to argue they had a misinformed but genuine reason to believe the sex was consensual.

The “mistake of fact” defence has been used by defendants to argue that a woman’s behaviour such as flirting or coming to a man’s house was consent.

Uber’s global head of urban mobility, Colin Tooze, spoke at the 2019 Asia Pacfic Cities Summit in Brisbane, saying Uber wants to see a shift from private cars to a mix of shared modes using energy-conserving technology. 

Mr Tooze says an international transport forum study estimated if every private vehicle on the road was shared, we would need only 3 per cent of the vehicles “clogging” our streets today, and would still be able to move the same number of people. 

The national sheep flock is forecast to fall to 65.8 million head this year, one of the lowest numbers since the early 1900s, according to Meat and Livestock Australia. 

Since the end of the wool reserve price scheme in the 1990s, where farmers were guaranteed a price, national sheep numbers have dropped by almost 100 million, raising the price for wool and lamb to record highs.

The Wheelchair State of Origin is providing an opportunity for disabled people to compete with and against able-bodied people in a game of wheelchair rugby league.

The annual State of Origin match, won by NSW this year, allows people of all abilities to compete on a level playing field to provide an entertaining spectacle all while facilitating an important conversation.

Minister for Indigenous Australians Ken Wyatt will today pledge to ‘bring forward a consensus option’ for a proposal to recognise Indigenous people in the constitution within three years, the ABC is reporting. 

In a speech to the National Press Club today, Mr Wyatt is set to announce the Government will design the model with First Australians, allocating more than $7 million to the process and will pledge to work with Labor opposition counterpart Linda Burney, describing her as ‘integral’ to the process. 

Ethiopia’s capital city has announced a ban on motorbikes in an effort to reduce crime such as violent robberies and attacks. 

The mayor of Addis Ababa, Takele Uma, says businesses would be exempt from the ban, but some delivery companies say they have been affected with their bikes being seized by authorities. 

Similar bans on motorcycles have existed in parts of Nigeria for the past nine years, including the most populous city of Lagos and the capital Abuja, where such bans have been criticised for contributing to heavy traffic jams.
 

New encryption powers to seek assistance from tech companies to spy on users have been used at least five times by federal and New South Wales police, according to the Commonwealth Ombudsman. 

The Ombudsman has also called for home affairs minister Peter Dutton’s ability to censor its reports on the encryption reporting process to be revoked, claiming these powers don’t maintain the ombudsman’s position as an impartial office.

A landmark peace conference between Taliban representatives and influential members of Afghan society, including government officials, has agreed a ‘roadmap for peace’ that could lead to the end of the 18-year war in the country. 

The non-binding agreement, signed in Qatar, called for an end to civilian casualties and the protection of women’s rights within an ‘Islamic framework,’ and comes as the US and the Taliban continue to negotiate a withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan.